3. Caramel Drizzle Note that the caramel drinks themselves aren’t non vegan, only the caramel drizzle topping. This is because the syrup base inside the drink is dairy free while the drizzle topped on the drink is not.

4. Cinnamon Dolce Topping Again, note that the cinnamon dolce latte can be made vegan. The syrup in the drink itself is dairy free, just hold the cinnamon topping and whip.

5. Protein Powder All smoothies come with whole milk and protein powder, replacing that dairy with plant based milk is a must but just don’t forget to hold the protein powder (Made with Milk) later in the article I’ll tell you how to substitute protein powder without even telling a difference!

6. White Mocha No matter how much you customize this drink, it can not be made vegan because the base of the drink (white mocha sauce) contains dairy.

7. Pumpkin Spice As great as it is, there is no possible way to order this vegan. Alike the White Mocha — It’s sauce base contains dairy as well.

8. Java Chips Unlike Starbucks mocha sauce, the chocolate chips they serve contain milk. If you’re looking for a chocolatey coffee fix — Mocha with your choice of plant based milk is the way to go! It still comes with shots of espresso.

9. Pastries There are no vegan options in the pastry case besides plain bagels.
Now that we’ve gone over what to avoid, let’s get to the good part

Lattes To make lattes vegan order with plant based milk and remember to avoid the items above.

Smoothies To make your Starbucks smoothie vegan, order with plant based milk of your choice and hold the protein powder. Instead of protein powder — ask for extra ice, eitherone extra pumpmocha OR extra strawberry according to the choice of smoothie ordered.

Undertows Undertows are part of thesecretmenu at Starbucks. It’s A double shot of espresso in a short cup with two pumps of flavored syrup and in this case, soy almond or coconut milk! Try the afghotto shot instead of espresso for a sweeter taste.

Fall and Winter can be our favorite time of the year with all the nice weather and seasonal festivities. We all know that with that — comes lots of cute coats, boots and sweaters but did you ever think of what violence can lurk inside your closet? Watching celebrities like Rihanna and Kim Kardashian strut in their expensive fur coats may seem glamorous to you because you may not imagine animals being electrocuted, starved and brutally beaten to death.

Shockingly, this is the reality more than 50 billion animals face each year just for fur products alone. This includes not only rabbits, minks, chinchillas, foxes and cows but even cats and dogs. Yes, your “authentic” fur coat could be and probably is partially made out of dog. This is because China is the largest fur export in the world.

Fur Production Is Cruel Out of all these animals, 85% of them killed for fur are held captive in fur farms. In fur farms these animals will be kept in tight, dirty cages with no room to move and even stuffed with other animals of the same species until they will be eventually skinned alive for fashion.

One Billion rabbits are killed each year for fur coats, interior decor, fly fishing items and even craft trims. Meanwhile, In China 2 Billion cats are killed each year for their fur. These innocent animals are either hung, electrocuted, beaten with pipes or skinned alive. 1/3 of animals killed for fur in the U.S are killed by crushing crates. This procedure is done by trapping the animal and applying 90 pounds of pressure, crushing the animal until they slowly suffocate internally. All of this horrible violence and animal abuse is for FASHION.

Please avoid all cruelty products like leather, animal fur, wool (sheared wool isnt any different, it’s part of skinned sheep too) uggs, fur trimmings in coats and suede. All these items can be replaced with a faux version of the same quality.

Being vegan means avoiding all meat, dairy and honey products. It also means avoiding anything that comes from an animal. Want to go vegan but still eat some of your favorite junk foods? No problem!

1. Oreos – The original flavor of Oreo cookie and cones are chocolatey, vegan goodness! The chocolate is made from 100% cocoa and you can eat these sweet babies with your favorite plant based milk or ice cream!

2. Pillsbury Crescent Rolls Don’t let these tasty crescents fool you, these rolls are filled with pure vegetable oil. You can even add your favorite dairy free spread to make them ooey and gooey! Make sure to buy the original flavor.

7. Candies Although as a vegan your candy options can be limited, who says you can’t enjoy Halloween or get your sweet tooth on? Here are some animal friendly candies safe to eat. Add skittles to the list!

8. Smuckers Marshmallow Topping Marshmallows aren’t vegan, but this smuckers topping is completely gelatin free and a good substitute for desserts.

9. Sara Lee Apple And Cherry Pie With both being so dekicous, I think I’ll just take both!

10. Pepperidge Farms Pastry Puffs Perfect for a quick dessert, it goes well along with fruit and Hershey’s chocolate syrup.

Why Did Veganism Come To My Mind?
I contemplated veganism, or atleast vegetarianism for a long time before i made the decision to switch over from daily meat eater to vegan. In all honesty, the connection that the meat I was eating was an actual living animal before it was killed never really crossed my mind until A vegans words challenged my thinking. This is what I’m going to do in this article, so I want you to clear your mind from what all society has taught you is “normal”or whatever differentiation you have in your head about different animals.

For my background, before I decided to cut animal cruelty completely out of my life I would eat meat on a regular basis at least once a day. To think about the fact that I was actually eating an animals dead body, who probably wanted to live never crossed my mind. It was alarming to see the life of a factory farm animal, so alarming and just so people could have 15 minutes of satisfaction. Once I blocked out all the weird norms society had taught me and truly thought logically, I then made the obvious connection. I admitted to myself that animals were harmed and actually blugently murdered for the food I was eating. I was determined and sure t

That day I learned something that is so very socially and publicly hidden from all of us. We always heard things growing up like “It came from an animal” but not that an animal was killed for the product nor that the product IS an animal. Obviously as we grow up, we realise this. We realise this by the time we’ve already acquired a taste and want for it. We eat it as children, before we can even understand it is violence. We hear the products are cage free but we never hear that all the male chicks are grinded up alive because they don’t produce eggs. We never hear about all the factories cage free chickens being cramped in rooms just as tight as being in a small cage.

We never hear about the cruelty, because these people want money. You won’t hear it from them… but are in fact eating an animal who was alive at some point in time. An animal who physically and emotionally suffered. Someone who lost out on something we all deserve — A life with value, lived in peace. I realised at eighteen years old after lots of cognitive de-conditioning that it was not only barbaric, but extremely sad and selfish that animals had to suffer for something so simple as what we pick to eat.

When I Really Decided To Commit
Regardless when you’re coming to realise this, it’s a good thing you ar. Animals are suffering depending on what is or isn’t on your plate. One person who says no to eating meat and dairy does count! Companies lose mass amounts of money as more and more people go vegan. The demand for meat and dairy becomes smaller and smaller.

I contemplated going vegan for the longest time and truly I think one of the biggest factors in my decision to go vegan was doing the research and making the connection that animals are undeniably feeling creatures who can hurt and fear. Even though animals can’t speak, they can still communicate with us and the fact animals share that consciousness led me to veganism.

Horrors Of The Slaughter House
58 billion animals a year are slaughtered for consumption not including fish and eggs. If that isn’t a a genocide I don’t know what is. The saddest thing is with animals being easily over powered by humans, they don’t have a choice and a factory farm is the place where selfish humans decide their fates for them. Here are just a few horrific examples of what a animals life is like in a slaughter house. I implicate a trigger warning for the upcoming list of modern farming methods:

1. Chicken Macerator – also known as instantaneous mechanical destruction machine is used to kill and literally grind up unwanted male chicks after their born instead of letting chicks go back to their natural habitat

2.A Squeeze Chute – also known as a cattle crush or rape rack is used to detain cows as they are restraint for artificial insemination

3. Stunner/Killer – an automated chicken killer that hangs chicken by their feet and one at a time stuns chickens to a slow painful death

4.Captive Bolt Gun – drives a metal rod into to the skull of cattle

5.Layer Cages – tightly packed small cages used for egg laying before chickens are slaughtered: cage dimensions are about 24″x18″ wide and up to 4 chickens are stuffed into each

6. Gestation Crate – A metal enclosure in which a sow (female pig) may be kept during pregnancy and most of her adult life before slaughter and is roughly the size of a shopping kart

7.Chicken Beak Cutting – Used to trim the ends off of chicks beaks at a few days old

—there are also many other horrific slaughtering methods that i just won’t get into because theres too many—

Why I Chose Veganism Over Being Vegetarian
Despite the quote-on-quote “hardships” of going vegan so many people choose vegan over vegetarian and here is why: Animals are still tortured for eggs, dairy products and anything with animal product in them. After they are used for the product the un useful animals are killed and the rest slaughtered for people’s satisfactory meals.

The Process Of Dairy
Alike humans cows are mammals and produce milk after their impregnated. Their lactation period is 20-40 days after birth. All dairy farms use a method that is called “artificial insemination” the injection of semen into the vagina. The cows always kick and scream as they are restraint in what is called a “rape rack” This would be called rape if done to a human but all the dairy industry cares about is profit and mass production.

After the cow gives birth to the calve, if it’s male it will slaughtered for veal as early as the day of birth. Other cows will be confined in veal crates for a few weeks chained and unable to perform basic functions because this cuts off their oxygen and makes the meat tender. If it is female it will join the milking herd. This process will continue and the female cows are stuck in a constant cycle of impregnation and slaughtered at only 4 years. A cows life span is roughly 25 years.

Chickens
Not only will chickens be crushed and kept in crates with the platform the size of an iPad their entire lives for eggs they will also be injected with steroids unhealthy for themselves and unhealthy for their growth. Male chicks will be grinded up and gassed because they cannot produce eggs and have no purpose for the dairy industry, some the very first day of birth.

Unnecessary Violence In Slaughter Houses
Of course slaughter houses are full of unimaginable acts of violence. Everyone knows their killing animals but majority of meat eaters do not know the severity of cruelty and suffering that takes place. These animals fear and often have seizures out of fear. These animals scream, cry and fear just like humans do and it’s about time we stop desensitizing meat or dairy.

Aside From Animal Cruelty

Animal cruelty is a huge part of why I went vegan, but there’s also lots of other reasons and benefits as to why you should go vegan if you’re not a softie animal lover like me:

Climate Change (Factory farming gives off more emissions than all transportation combined

Health Risks Meat consumption is actually the cause of the second most common cancer (colon) and women who eat meat and dairy have a larger chance of getting ovarian cancer

Deforestation Mass producing animals means cutting down so many trees to have space for grass fed animals and to build factories. More CO2 and less oxygen? Yikes!

Ocean Dead Zones Most of the earths discovered margins of water already are depleted of large fish. It is predicted by 2050, the oceans will be fishless if rates continue

World Hunger Since 50% of earths grains are fed to mass produced livestock (at incredibly un natural reproduction rates) meat and dairy production is the number one cause of starvation. It can take 1,000 grains to feed one cow that will be slaughtered and feed 5 people or you could feed a village/small town.

Your Contribution Matters
People are always saying “what’s the point of going vegan whenever other people won’t choose too?” Actually, the decrease in demand for meat products has gone down from 10 billion animals in 2002 to 8 billion animals in 2014. That’s 2 billion animals lives saved because people chose to go vegan. Every day that you’re eating vegan, you save 1,000 gallons of water, 45 pounds of grain, 30 square feet of land, 20 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent and most importantly one animals life.

Keeping Up On Your Health With A Vegan Diet
For a vegan diet you need to make sure you’re remaining your health and your bodies nutritional needs. You need to make sure you’re getting enough protein intake because you aren’t eating not eating meat – this means tofu, soy, lentils, mushrooms, cucumbers, spinach, kale, and bell peppers because they are all high in protein. You also need to make sure you are getting enough iron as well which avocado, almonds, potatoes, tomato, sprouts, chia seeds, banana and sweet peas are high in and don’t forget to include whole grains into your diet by eating whole grain cereal, brown rice wheat bread, whole, grain pastas etc.

The best part about being vegan is the happiness you get from knowing you really are helping animals. The food is great and I can honestly say dairy and meat replacements have advanced and were my key to transitioning. Just make sure you aren’t eating processed foods constantly and make sure you’re getting the nutrients you need.

Here’s some yummy vegan food I’ve made and had myself :

Definitely make sure you are keeping up on your vitamin intake. Vitamins are extremely important when being on a vegan diet. Your body need vitamins. Take iron weekly and Vegan Omega 3 supplements (vegan fish oil) with vitamin C and D daily. Make sure to not buy any vitamins containing gelatin as it is made out of animal bones and skin.

Many people are under the false impression that the dairy industry can be sustainable or humane. In this article Im going to explain how horrifying and sadistic the dairy industry truly is and why dairy production really hits home for me. Ask yourself is it really worth it?

Milk Production And Abuse Cows are mammals and just like humans female cows produce milk when they are impregnated. All dairy factories use a method that is called artificial insemination” the injection of semen into the vagina or uterus other than by sexual intercourse. This would be called rape” if done to a human but all the dairy industry cares about is profit and mass production. Cows are fored into a contant cycle of pregnancy their entire short lives in factory farms. When these cows are impregnated they have to be restrained in what is called a “rape rack” yes, it is literally called that. They have to tie the animal up as she kicks and screams.

From my prospective, if an animal is uncomfortable or screaming in pain that is a sign that they are clearly uncomfortable and do not want babies forced inside of them. Not only do they force babies inside of female cows, they also kill them. Yes, they kill the males for veal. The female calves join the milking herd to be used for dairy just like her mother, then killed too.

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Seperation Of Mothers And Calves In the dairy industry, young calves are taken away from their mothers right away otherwise only 1 to 3 days after birth. A cow produces the most milk around 40 to 60 days after she’s given birth and then she is impregnated again. The cycle continues — she gives birth about 3 or 4 more times and then is slaughtered for meat. This is why the dairy industry is the slaughter industry, too.

Veal Production In The Dairy Industry Every year in the United States alone 21 million calves are slaughtered for veal young calf meat. To make the baby cows meat more “tender” they keep the cow in a veal crate with chains around their necks and body to cut oxygen flow and restrain them from any movement. They are tortured for their entire short life of 16 weeks, if they arent killed in the first round. The animals do not even get to see a life outside of a dairy farm and actually, some don’t see life at all. “Bob” veal comes from calves who are slaughtered when they are only a few hours or days old.

These animals in factory farms are all robbed from any value or happiness in life. They are all born in factories and will never get to feel the warmth of sunlight on their skin. They will never feel a mothers love, how it is to play and run around or to simply enjoy their life for what it should be. We are treating these animals — the most harmess beings on the planet like prisoners. Worse than we treat rapists, murderers and child molestors and change starts with you.

Cruelty Free Isn’t Always Cruelty Free
In 2016, there are lots of cruelty free labeled cosmetics to choose from but when buying cruelty free cosmetics it is important to avoid buying from brands who are owned by parent companies — specifically ones that animal test. These companies own and operate more cruelty brands than cruelty free brands and by purchasing their cruelty free brands products you are still unawaringly funding animal testing. Although It is difficult to avoid parent company’s 100% try to avoid them as best as you possibly can.

It is also important to remember that just because a product is labeled cruelty free, doesn’t mean it necessarily is. This is because alot of cruelty free brands use animal product in their makeup whether it’s animal fat for lipstick, carmine for pigmentation, beeswax or honey. Just because a brand isn’t 100% vegan doesn’t mean you can’t buy their products, because luckily most cruelty free brands have select vegan products and you can pick out vegan products from each brand.

Here is a list of my favorite cruelty free brands who have available options for the vegan community

ALBA BOTANICA – A cruelty free body care company with majority vegan options. Shampoo and conditioner, acne wash, toner, face wash, body wash, moisturizers, scrubs, sunscreen and aloe after sun gel. All of these products are fairly priced and can be found in Walmart® Target® and most local drugstores.

Colour Pop – A cruelty free cosmetic company with vegan options and prices that range from $5-$16

ELF– A cruelty free cosmetic brand with products as cheap as a few bucks each. Yes, you better believe it! Every thing by e.l.f.® is vegan apart from the essentials makeup brushes, they are made with horse hair. e.l.f. is currently in the process of converting all of their brushes to vegan, synthetic hair.

Too Faced– A cruelty free cosmetic company with lots of vegan options. High quality makeup.

MILANI – A cruelty free cosmetic company with many vegan options. I like Milani because they are an ethical, cheap and good quality products. Found at CVS® and other drug stores.

ABH Cosmetics – Anastasia Beverly Hills® A cruelty free cosmetic company with a variety of vegan options. One of my favorite makeup brands, great quality.

TOMS OF MAINE– Vegan and cruelty free, beware of the fact that Toms Of Maine is owned by parent company Colgate, who still animal tests. Although it is hard to find vegan toothpaste, you can always get cruelty free toothpaste and deodorant from Lush® listed above. Tom’s of Maine produces toothpastes, deodorants, mouthwashes and soaps.